St. Landry democrat., 1887-12-10
WAR BETWEEN CITIES.
Two Kansas Towns Fighting for the
County Seat.

the 0iiItIdi returns Ol lllc recent ctC|liOli-
CHEYENNE county, for the last week
ha~ been threatened with renewal, on "a
small scale, Of the bloody scenes Of the
sos. when the name Kansas was syno-
nym for social laWleSsncss and political
anarchy. Wano and Bird City are two
Villages, each of about 500 population.
They are the only two places in Cheyenne
county which lay claim to the title OF p
city the other three places being merely
trading points, consisting Of q general
store. the storokeeper's residence ana d
blacksmith shop,
From the first settlement OF these Two
municipalities there has existed Il rivalry
Of the bitterest kind The two town
plots were laid out by rival companies
which We're the outgrOWth Of one com
pany which laid out towns. Between
these tWd organizations after the split
there existed the greatest hatred. and thl~
feeling was transmitted in an intensified
form to the towns themselves. y an"
was laid out about a year before bIf"
Civ, and when the move was made
to establish the last-namod plac"
only four miles away from Nano, liz
inhabitants were very loud i'll expires
sions of ridicuIe and contempt. The
Wan0itcS felt secure in what they con
sidcred their commercial Businesses anH
talked about the plans Of the Bird City
Company with the utmost sCOrn, ILe
projectors Of the new metropolis, how
ever, subdiyided the prairie into lots, lal@
out streets, doomed the place in the most
approved style and soon had a vigorous
voung village Of 100 souls. The pusa
and energy Of the business men Of bTu
Citv were rewarded by a steady accretio&
Of capital and enterprise, and It was 500
able TO boast Of as large a population 4~
its older rival
The spirit Of antagOni>m grew with I'll"
development of the two towns, and NOR
than once threatened to break out into
armed hostility. There was a standlDg
challenge between the youthful NanOlte~
and the rising generation OF Bird CITY,
and whenever Wano boy met another
boy it was considered a sufficient ca&'f$
jelH that he was from Bird City, and
rice gerSa, and a collision was sure to
follow When the county was organized
there was a fierce struggle between the
two towns for the honor of being tn
county seat. After hard fight Bird City
triumphed and WanO was wild with
rage and disappointment. Although
suffering a most humiliating defeat III
this instance, it still retained sufficient
political power to have the question Oh
changing the county seat submitted a.
often as the law would allow, and kept
Bird City constantly on the gu el0e 10 re-
tain the fruit of its victory.
Recently an election of county Officials
took place. and the question of the lOca
tion of the county seat was again voteH
on. When the county commissioners
met to canvass the votea legal question
arose which they decided to submit To
Attorney General Bradford, and an
nounced that the official canvass of the
vote would not be completed until this.
opinion was received. This announce
ment in Wano fell like a spark of fire III
a powder magazine. The Bird City men
and the county commissioners were de
nounced in the most bitter terms. The
universal sentiment in Wano was that the
Bird City men, recognizing their defeat
at the polls, had trumped up a spurious
legal question as part of a scheme to out
count Wano and keep the county seat
and county officials. The Wano men
said that this should be prevented
at anv cost, and that they pro
posed to have their rights if they had
to fight for them. That night $50 men,
under the leadership of John Reynolds
the candidate for sheriff on the Wano
ticket, each armed with two Remington
revolvers and a Winchester repeating
rifle, rode to Bird City, hitched their
horses in the courthouse square and took
possession. When the next morning
dawned the astonished citizens of BIRD
City saw the seat of justice transformed
into an arsenal Clerks, with huge re
volvers in their belts, were busy with the
records, and armed men were keeping
guard on the outside. When the county
officials came to enter upon their duties
they were told that the returning board
was making canvass of the votes cast a,
the election and no other business woulf
be transacted in the courthouse until this
work was completed. There were not
wanting in Bird City plenty of men who
were ready to adopt the shotgun argu-
ment in case of an emergency, and were
eager to employ it in this instance when
their enemies had set the example.
Accordingly they got together all the
arms and ammunition available in Bird
City and sent to Benkleman, a neighbor-
ing town in Nebraska, for more. With
the munitions of war, however, came,
peacemakers, and these, united with the
more conservative citizens of Bird City,
finally secured a postponement of hostili-
ties until conference could be held
A committee waited On the invaders and
obtained from them promise to vacate
the courthouse at noon to-day and allow
the present incumbents of county offices
to return to their places.
In the meantime the Wano men organ
lied canvassing board of their own,
which proceeded to declare all the Wano
candidates elected, and issued to each of
them certificates to that effect They
then returned to Wano, taking with them
the official record of the votes cast at the
election and the certificates. In the.
meantime the county commissioners say
that the Bird City candidates were,
elected. When these two sets of candi-
dates attempt to take possession on the
first of January there is grave reason to,
anticipate an episode of the Donnybrook-
Fair species, where the deadly Win
chester will be substituted for the black
.thorn.-Neao York World